Chicken with curled foot

[thealpha]

How long should I give my chicken with the curled foot to get better? The directions say to give the supplement for 5 days in a row. Its been 4 days now and I am not seeing much improvement. I don't want to cull her but I hate to see her suffer.

 

[chicken97]

I was wondering the same. Mine actually is moving around a lot better but the toes are still curled up. I started vitamins on Saturday. I've read some people tape them to a piece of cardboard to try straighten them but am I past the point of that helping?

 

[Eggcessive]

Splinting the toes may help in a young chick a week or two old, but later it may not help. Riboflavin deficiency isn't always curable, but it helps to start treatment immediately. Mareks disease can also cause curling under of toes.

 

[thealpha]

The last time this happened to my hen it took her about 3 weeks to recover completely but in 2 weeks she was a lot better. At that time I did not know what was wrong with her so I did the ACV and fresh garlic in the water treatment which seemed to work. Now that I know it may be a vitamin B deficiency I'm in the dark about how long the treatment will take or if it will work at all like Eggcessive stated previously. My chicken still may be suffering from Marek's so its hard to tell what is actually wrong with her and what the proper treatment should be. I have since learned that vitamin B deficiency is largely due to poor quality feed that does not contain any animal protein which is necessary for proper poultry nutrition since chickens are omnivores not herbivores so check your feed and make sure it contains animal protein. I was feeding my flock Purina layena which I heard is one of the worst feeds on the market. I have since switched over to a brand called Extreme Poultry but I will probably switch again to a brand called Kent which everyone on BYC raves about. Like I stated before I am new to raising chickens and its a definite learning experience so read everything you can on BYC and listen to experts like Eggcessive who really know what they are talking about and soon we will have a handle on it. Good luck!

 

[thealpha]

I put down my Wyandotte today with the curled foot because I'm sure my hens problem was Marek's related since she last all control over both legs over the past two days, was barely able to walk and had trouble balancing. I only have one remaining hen from the 4 I bought from Chickens Galore in Norco CA. This breeder doesn't vaccinate his chicks for Marek's disease so if anyone else is reading this DO NOT BUY CHICKENS from Chickens Galore! It's very disappointing to put in all the time and effort raising chicks only to lose them when they just begin to lay.I have 5 other chickens I bought from 2 different breeders who DID vaccinate for Marek's and those birds are alive and well so vaccination is very important!